Embracing Quality as Culture of Excellence: WMSU is now ISO 9001:2015 Certified!

The passage towards fulfilling a definitive goal of implementing Quality Management System by the Western Mindanao State University has been long and winding. The goal is inspired by the mandate of the law particularly the Commission on Higher Education to ensure that tertiary quality education must sustain standard procedures through the years and produce human resources who are globally competent as well as competitive. With the ISO 9001:2015 in place to inspire the Quality Management procedures in WMSU with the core components of instruction, research, extension and administration, the roadmap towards more successes for the University has become clear. The birth pains of “embracing quality as a culture of excellence” have been crucial to all concerns in this undertaking. The need to understand then internalize the wisdom of QMS and thereafter sustaining such standards in WMSU as an academic institution is indeed essential for its constituents. WMSU is committed further to broaden the scope of the ISO 9001:2015 coverage to include the remaining colleges and administrative units. Thus the recent ISO 9001:2015 certification WMSU is accorded, assures that the only way for the University to go is FORWARD. The path the University has taken shall open more avenues for progress and development designed to last and benefit future generations. Let us salute ourselves for the collective efforts manifested in the realization of this important goal. Kudos WMSU!
By: Dr. Lea E. Usman

2018-10-10

Infrastructure and Calibration, in preparation for the Stage 2 External Party Audit

Last February 19, 2018, a workshop on planning and records generation with particular emphasis on Infrastructure and Calibration, in preparation for the Stage 2 External Party Audit, was conducted by the Quality Management Office at the College of Home Economics Hostel. This workshop was in line with the recently concluded three-day workshop on records generation, which focused on Competence and Awareness, clause 4, and quality planning and performance measure workshop using the WMSU Strategic Performance Management System (SPMS).
The said activity was participated by Dr. Joselito D. Madroñal, the Vice-president for Administration and Finance (VPAF), Engr. Aquilino Perez, the Director for Physical Plant, Dr. Russell Ingkoh, the Administrative Officer, Ms. Carolina Tejero, the Property Management Officer, Engr. Marinella Tose, the OIC Director for MISTO, Mr. Edwin Espinola, the head for the Motorpool, Engr. Dante Villareal,, the Project Management Office director, Ms. Ma. Lourdes B. Alba, the director for finance, Engr. Antonio Angelo J. Limbaga, the director for MITHI, the resource persons or process owners and the management team.
The workshop discussed the audit findings on Infrastructure and Calibration and worked on a root cause analysis. Among the causes identified were the absence of a maintenance schedule that is aligned with the APP, the lack of policies on the use and maintenance of physical plants and facilities, and the unclear functions for responsibilities in some areas of infrastructure.
Having constructed root cause analyses, defined the mitigating and permanent corrective action, and generated the documents for maintenance plans and inventory lists, the workshop was another successful activity that expressly demonstrated the university’s persistent commitment to prepare itself for the forthcoming Stage 2 of the External Party Audit.
By Fatima Areej S. Lu

2018-04-08

WSMSU PROCESS OWNERS UNDERGO RECORDS GENERATION WORKSHOP

As part of the university’s preparations for the Stage 2 of the External Party Audit, a three-day records generation workshop was conducted last February 13-15, 2018 at the College of Nursing Audio Visual Room 7.

Process owners of the different units of the university, from the top management, faculty union executive officers, instructional and service delivery, administrative support services, research extension services, resource generation, management and assessment process, to the technical and administrative staff, took part in the said event.

The workshop highlighted the generation of records, the audit report of the Stage 1 Audit, the non-conformities and potential non-conformities, and how these are to be addressed. Root cause analyses, as tools that will aid in attending to the several issues identified, were also constructed in the three-day workshop.

The first day gave emphasis to the records generation on sub-clauses 7.2 and 7.3, which focused on Competence and Awareness, respectively.Clause 4 was the focus of the second day, where several matters, such as the external and internal contexts of the said clause, were deliberated. Understanding the Organization and Its Context, under sub-clause 4.1, was also discussed, where a SWOT analysis of the five (5) areas—Instruction, Research, Extension, Resource Generation, and Administrative Support—was formulated.

The last day of the workshop gave emphasis to quality planning and performance measure using the WMSU Strategic Performance Management System (SPMS). The ISO Internal Auditor, Engr. Oscar Sicat, tackled the SPMS, and a discussion on the success indicators, performance measures, and target setting of the clause on Performance Planning and Commitment was conducted by Prof. Claro M. Potenciano, the OIC Planning Officer. Among the other issues undertaken on the third day were the minor non-conformities identified in sub-clauses 6.2b and 6.2c, the potential non-conformity under sub-clause 9.1.1c, as well as the mitigating and corrective actions to be carried out.

The three-day event ended with the process owners’ enriched understanding of the root causes of their units’ issues, particularly the non-conformities and potential non-conformities identified during the Stage 1 of the External Party Audit. The workshop was truly an opportunity for the said process owners tobetter addresstheir respective issues and fully prepare the university, as a whole, for the phase 2 of the audit.

Part of the preparation for the Stage 2 of External Party Audit is the coordination of the different colleges of the university, through their College Student Councils, in the task of complying with the standards prescribed by the ISO to achieve the certification by the end of the second phase of the audit. To pursue this end, the University Student Council President, Mr. Bins Binang, spearheaded the initial planning of an Orientation and Strategic Planning Activity for the student leaders last January 15, 2018, at the Quality Management Office.

Together with the WMSU Quality Management Officer, Dr. Mario R. Obra Jr., the Chair for Quality in the workplace, Engr. Marlon C. Grande, the USC Chief-of-Staff, Mr. Muhadir N. Pingli, USC President Binang put forward the idea of conducting a two-day activity that will properly orient CSC officers, especially the different college mayors, as to the meaning of ISO and how its standards may be met.

The first day of the event will be intended for workshops, and the second day for the strategic planning sessions. Important matters relevant to ISO, particularly about the 5s and its significance, will also be undertaken. An estimated budget of Php37, 500 will be needed for the two sets of snacks and one lunch will be given on each day of the activity.

Fifty (50) student leaders will be invited to take part of the said event, fifteen (15) of which will be coming from the University Student Council (USC), and the remaining thirty-five (35) from the different College Student Councils(CSCs). The proposed date for this event will on February 1-2, 2018. However, as it was only the initial planning, communication of the Dean of Student Affairs, Milagros F. Yosores, is still to be made through the office of the USC President Binang, so that the final plans as to the conduct and funding of the entire event may be settled.

Story By: Fatima Areej S. Lu, AB PolSci IV

2018-01-15

WMSU Undergoes Stage 1 of ISO External Party Audit

In keeping with the University’s goal of providing quality services, Western Mindanao State University (WMSU) subjected itself to the Stage 1 of the External Party Audit by the CI SOCOTEC last December 6-8, 2017, held at the College of Home Economics (CHE) Hostel.

The ISO external audit serves the purpose of verifying that the management systems of the selected offices within the Quality Management System of the University are in line with the relevant ISO standard, and whether the quality objectives of the organization have been met. The Quality Management System was launched last December 7, 2016 to ensure efficient delivery and operation of academic and support services.

WMSU QMS Process Owners, from the top management, with Dr. Milabel E. Ho as the WMSU President, Dr. Ma. Carla A. Ochotorena as the Vice-President for Academic Affairs (VPAA), Dr. Chona Q. Sarmiento as the Vice-President for Research, Extension Services, and External Linkages (VPRESEL), Dr. Joselito D. Madroñal as the Vice-President for Planning, Administration and Finance, and Dr. Teresita A. Narvaez as the Vice-President for Resource Generation, to the WMSU-ISO technical working committees, five (5) college deans (CSM, CN, CTE, CET & CHE), directors, unit heads, internal auditors and staff , all underwent the rigorous process of the external audit.

CI SOCOTEC lead auditor, Dr. Ernesto Dela Cruz, spearheaded the Stage 1 audit, where he looked into the different areas of the quality management systems of the said process owners, such as their organizational roles, structure and authorities, quality policies, organizational knowledge and communication, and several others. The audit was facilitated by Dr. Mario R. Obra, the WMSU Quality Management Officer.

The Stage 1 was the initial phase of the two-stage external party audit. Stage 2 is set to be conducted ninety (90) days after the submission of the audit report for the Stage 1. The three-day evaluation ended the process owners’ continued commitment to achieve the certification by complying with all the observations and non-compliance as prescribed by the ISO 9001:2015.

story by: Fatima Areej S. Lu, AB PolSci IV

2017-12-08

Quality Management Team Progress Meeting Levels Up Preparations for ISO

All thumbs up for the WMSU ISO (International Organization for Standardization) certification! The major event is scheduled to take place within the year. The five colleges that will be subjected to the rigorous ISO certification procedure are the College of Teacher Education; College of Nursing; College of Engineering; College of Science and Mathematics and College of Home Economics. By virtue of the active participation in the ISO trainings-workshops and readiness of the colleges, they are selected as the first batch to undergo the certification. The much recent ISO progress meeting was held at the RDEC Conference room last June 14, 2017.

As disclosed in the meeting, the first stage is the visitation of the ISO External Party Auditors tasked to do the inventory of the Quality Management System pertinent documents on July 2017.And the second stage shall take place sometime in October 2017 with the visitation of the external audit team to already include inspection of the implementation of the processes claimed in the documented information certified in the first stage.

The mandatory procedures essential for the ISO certification for stage one shall cover the following: documented information; risk management; Internal quality audit; corrective action; control of non-conforming products and services; filing system and the 5S (sort, setting order, shine, standardize and sustain). The procedures that the colleges, departments and units undertake are documented in forms following a coding system (institutional code, unit code and series number). The head of the University Records Office is the Document Controller (DC) who holds the original copies of the documents called “master copy”, while the college-based records keepers are the Unit Document Controllers (UDC) who keep the duplicate of the documents considered “controlled copy”. ISO thus promotes the idea of paper “traceability” which is essential to manage the daily routine in the University and to ensure “authenticity” of transactions at all times. These procedures are contained in the WMSU Procedures and Work Instruction Manual (PAWIM)- the guiding policy in the implementation of the University Quality Management System that is in consonance with its vision, mission, goals and objectives (VMGO).

Meanwhile, the Quality Management Team spearheaded by Dr. Mario R. Obra, director of the International Relations Office/ Quality Management System Office under the Office of the President has categorized the inventory of documents for the certification together with the five colleges that will undergo the first batch of ISO certification. The two major processes covered in the ISO inventory of documents are:

The support processes- to include research, administrative support, and academic support.

All the various activities under each process shall be subsumed within as sub processes. The voluminous documents presently handled by the University prompted the Quality Management Office to cluster the processes under two major categories for purposes of document coding and easy access to them during document inventory.

Western Mindanao State University’s journey to establish efficiency in its processes in both the academic and support services is falling into place as it moves closer to being ISO 9001:2015 certified. The University’s Quality Management System was launched last December 7, 2016 at the WMSU Social Hall with a scope that covers the delivery of several academic and support services in the main campus.

This event highlighted the University’s commitment to quality education as it starts to develop a University-wide ISO 9001:2015 quality management system. Moreover, the University stated as well its pledge to effectively guide its clients and stakeholders towards the successful completion of its journey.

A Quality Management System or QMS is a collection of processes focused on achieving quality policy and quality objectives to meet customer requirements. It is expressed as the organizational structure, policies, procedures, processes and resources needed to implement quality management.

This aims to establish and implement a quality management system for WMSU that is certifiable to ISO 9001:2015. It covers all aspects of operations in academic, research, and administration, particularly HRMO, finance and accounting services, library, and registrar services. Also, the Development Academy of the Philippines, with Mr. GlicerioSoliban as consultant, has put in place all the necessary recommendations for the preparation and sustainment of the processes.

University President Dr. Milabel Enriquez Ho said that the success of the University will be the result of its ability to develop and improve its performance in the long term. The establishment of the QMS will also be cascaded and replicated to other WMSU external campuses.

The said QMS implementation shows the University’s efforts in ensuring quality delivery of its products and services to its clients- the students, adding that the university is committed to actualizing its part of the obligations with the consultant, Development Academy of the Philippines, in order to realize the objective of attaining the most coveted and vaunted certification by first quarter of 2017.

Engr. MarinellaT. Tose, OIC-Director of the Management Information System & Technology Office (MISTO), was appointed as Chair of the WMSU Internal Quality Audit Team. This event was spearheaded by Dr. Mario R. Obra, Jr., Quality Management Officer and International Relations Office Director, and was attended by university officials, faculty, non-teaching staff and process-owners.